Reflection On Near Death
by Firestarlover123
Summary: Emberpaw gets in trouble with the leader, and is put on elder duty. While the cat is doing the elders' ticks, they take pity on her and tell her a story. Little did they know, she reflected deeply on the story, and it affected her for many moons to come. Challenge 2 with 1,065 words.


"Emberpaw! Emberpaw! Emberpaw!" The clan cheered for a young and new apprentice wildly. The newly-named apprentice was daughter of Mintfur and Sunfire. She was also the sister of Mosspaw, a furry brown she-cat with green eyes and Grasspaw, a tiny brown tom with amber eyes. Emberpaw did not know that only a moon later, they would learn a very valuable lesson from a tale passed down by Shineeye and the other elders. The ginger she-cat with sparkling emerald eyes twirled happily as she ran down from the rock and her leader, Moonstar. That young cat couldn't wait for training from her new mentor Jayfire!

The next morning, Jayfire ran to his new apprentice, Emberpaw. His warrior ceremony had only been a moon ago and he already had an apprentice! The black tom stopped at the entrance and called to Emberpaw. "Emberpaw! Time to tour the territory!" Emberpaw leaped up right away. Jayfire had already shown Emberpaw The Great Sycamore, Snakerocks, Tallpines, and Sunningrocks. Emberpaw's energy was wearing low when they arrived at Sandy Hollow. "That's where we will go do battle training." Jayfire explained when they stopped at Sandy Hollow. Jayfire stood back on the path when Emberpaw moaned that she was hungry. Jayfire cocked his head then quickly said "Oh yes, hunting. I wasn't planning on doing that till tomorrow."

Emberpaw lifted her ears. She had heard something rustling in the bushes. "A mouse." Jayfire whispered. "They feel your pawsteps through the ground before they actually hear you. So what do you think we do when we want to catch a mouse?"

Emberpaw thought for a moment. _They feel you before they hear you. What should you do to catch one? _"Step lightly?" Emberpaw suggested quietly.

Jayfire nodded. "Why don't you catch that mouse?"

Emberpaw nodded and crouched low. She put equal weight in each paw then stepped as quietly as she could, carefully watching the ground to see that she doesn't step on a twig or dead leaf. She got as close as she could to the mouse without it seeing her. Then she pounced. The mouse was dead in an instant.

Jayfire appeared by her, whispering loudly and fearfully "Run! A fox is coming!"

Emberpaw gathered all her strength and ran. Jayfire told her it was safe to stop at the Owl Tree but she ran right past it, not noticing that Jayfire was slowing down. Emberpaw kept running after she looked back and saw Jayfire was coming. Emberpaw froze with terror in the middle of the Thunderpath. A monster was coming and she didn't know what it was. She couldn't move. Jayfire finally caught up with her. He stood on the side of the Thunderpath, mouthing that she had to come over. Emberpaw shook her head fearfully. Jayfire ran in front of the monster, grabbed her scruff gently, and ran just as the monster was about to hit Emberpaw. Emberpaw still couldn't move when she was away from the Thunderpath. Jayfire told her what the sticky black surface was and what the thing was that about hit her. Emberpaw still didn't calm down.

Jayfire told her that he'd be back and ran to find a patrol. Luckily, he found Moonstar and her patrol nearby. He lead Moonstar's patrol to Emberpaw and Emberpaw was still as rigid as a rock. He spoke his suspicions of what it was, that she may have been traumatized. Moonstar and her patrol carried Emberpaw back to camp.

Easteye looked her over and listened to what happened. He nodded and gave her thyme and poppy seeds to help her sleep. Emberpaw soon did while something was happening. Easteye looked at Jayfire. "Hmm, Jayfire and a jay made of fire. Jayfire, I believe you are going to be the next medicine cat apprentice. You did quite well today and I think you would be an excellent cat for the job, not to mention, StarClan sent me of a dream that consisted of A jay made of fire."

Jayfire nodded respectfully. "But wait Easteye! What about Emberpaw?"

"She could always have another mentor but she'll take time to recover and in that time, I could teach you all I know. Plus, there is a quarter moon coming up."

Emberpaw woke to Moonstar sitting beside her. "Emberpaw, I know it takes time to recover but you need something to keep the Thunderpath off your mind. I will have you checking the elders for ticks this next moon." Emberpaw stayed solemn. "You may begin now." Emberpaw walked out of the medicine cat den without a word then went for moss to change the elder's bedding. She found a great wad of it outside the medicine cat den. From there, Emberpaw gathered mousebile from Easteye and went to the elder's den.

"Oh you poor thing!" Dappleeyes cried.

Emberpaw still did not speak. She headed over to Shineeye who shook her head. "None of that bile for me honey! I'd have to wash in the river and believe me, I do not want to do that!" Emberpaw smiled slightly. She begun getting the ticks off of Darkblare. Shineeye started a story. "There once was this apprentice, Cinderpaw. She fell bait for a nasty cat named Tigerclaw but enough about that. She got onto the Thunderpath looking for signs of WindClan but believe me, she was not there for that. Fireheart, a brave warrior, ran to Cinderpaw when she screamed. It shook the whole forest. When Fireheart found her, her leg was crippled, hit by a monster."

"Shineeye!" Dappleeye scolded. Dappleeye started onto another story but all that Emberpaw could think about was that Thunderpath and the monsters. _I could have been hit by that monster, could have been crippled or worse, killed. _Emberpaw could only think that thought when she went to the elder's den. Moonstar extended her time with the elder's longer to help her or so she thought. Emberpaw remained rigid always at the mention of the Thunderpath until Jayfire calmed her.

But no matter how many times she had been calmed down she always stood rigid and thought the same thought over and over when the Thunderpath is mentioned for many moons to come.

_I could have been hit by that monster, could have been crippled or worse, killed._


End file.
